Tag Archives: Theater

Polishing a Creaky Chestnut

Posted on by

I wasn’t too excited about seeing The Mystery of Edwin Drood today.  But Roundabout did what Roundabout does.  They take a classic, in this case the creaky, unfinished Dickens tale, and they wallop the audience with a great good time.

This is the music hall done right, not like the woeful, obnoxious One Man, Two Guv’nors.  Once I was willing to let go of knowing this chestnut just too well, I laughed and had so much fun with the ensemble musical.

I didn’t even realize until the intermission that Chita Rivera is in it.  During the second act, I focused on her and will say, I finally recognized her cheek bones.  She shares the stage very willingly with the always wonderful Stephanie Block and Will Chase, who was a small bright spot on Smash as the actor who nearly breaks up the Debra Messing character’s marriage.  He is wonderful here, playing against type.

While I’m the last one to tell you to run out and buy a ticket for this show, if you are a Roundabout subscriber like me, you don’t have to sigh at the thought of spending this time in the theater with them.  Even the luscious Studio 54 theater is complemented by their production, and their sets, especially the railway station (reminiscent of the famous Monet painting), are nicely done.

Claude Monet, St Lazarre Train Station, 1877

Go prepared to participate and have fun!

Whale and whale of a good time

Posted on by

This afternoon, I saw the Whale at Playwrights New Horizons.  It continues to be the best theater in town for my taste.  I’d say don’t wait around, run go see this play.

 

The play is a slow build, carefully constructing a tight, small world, that begins to resonate wider and wider.  By the end, I was moved to tears.  You know I see a lot of theater.  I can’t remember the last time I cried at a show.  When it was over, the audience sat in complete, absolute, almost terrified silence.  Again rare for me, I wanted to see it all over again from the beginning.

Now, this isn’t an easy play, nor an uplifting one.  It’s got references to the whale and Jonah and the whale and Ahab.  It has characters that may make you uncomfortable.  It is defined by acts of love, well, Acts of Love, that are neither expected, nor simply understood.

If you are up for a challenge, I think you’ll be glad you saw it, and I want to talk with you about it afterwards.

The Met Museum once again comes through with a whale of a good time.  This time with its “Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop” exhibit.

Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop

Now the smaller exhibit of photos manipulated by Photoshop is also interesting, but go see the warhorses by Gustave LeGray, Henry Peach Robinson, and Edward Steichen.  In person, you can really see the manipulation, which is missing from a PowerPoint slide.  I finally get why Fading Away was so challenging.

Henry Peach Robinson, Fading Away, 1858

Of course, there are the Surrealist and Postmodernist greatest hits, too.  Weegee gets his day in the Met sun (nice to see him other places besides the International Center for Photography). 

I was “turned on” by Grete Stern’s Dream #1: Electrical Appliances for the Home from 1948.  The whole dream series was new to me.

 

 

 

 

I do have a personal connection with the “Novelties and Amusements” theme of the show.  I was visited by a spirit when I had my photograph made in Gettysburg, PA.  Of course, it was no novelty, no mere amusement.  Well, she was my Muse for writing a paper, so I guess, in a way, it was a-muse-ment.

Black Box blues, or is it black and blue?

Posted on by

Okay, my return to theater after more than a week away was a powerful one, thank goodness.  I was losing my faith from a string of losers (to browse the list of what I’ve seen check out the Theater Log).

Bad Jews at Roundabout’s Black Box will probably take on more resonance with the passage of time.  While watching, I was riveted and also aware that my own point of view was clear.  Even at the end, when the playwright challenges the audience with some revelations that might shake that certainty, I was still comfortable inside myself.  I know which argument I favor, even if I might change a core plot action as a result of the revelations.  So I was not changed by seeing the play.

However, this is good theater.  Strong content, doing what a good play is supposed to do–make you think, make you reflect on the characters and how they develop, challenge you.

These are flawed characters, all.  Each is deluded and endures some painful truth-telling.  The one character who tries “to stay out of it” ends up at the center, being forced to have an opinion.  I would say that the end of the play means change for the 3 principals, and maybe even the 4th character.  The moments of awareness at the very end are subtle (which the rest of the play is not) and clearly left for post-play discussion.

This is one to see with a friend and plan to discuss.  Will it transcend its heavily Jewish content?  Will it transcend its mini-lecturette formatting, albeit delivered at hyper speed?  I’m interested in your thoughts.  For sure, you will see 4 young actors working their hearts out. You’ll see a play that will push you, make you work along with the characters, and maybe make you laugh, often in a kind of cringing way.

Click on this link to learn more about the production and watch a video that, warning, gives a bit away.  As you know, I like to go in knowing nothing.  So if that’s you, viewer beware.

Roundabout Black Box production of Bad Jews